Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.

Chapter 2: Anything but Terrified


Ashley was making her way through route 1, she knew that there weren't any pokémon she wanted to catch found on this route, but she was keeping her eyes peeled and her ears open, just in case. A few hours in, they heard a blood curdling scream. Ashley turned to Eevee, still perched on her shoulder.

"Vee?" Eevee asked.

"I don't know girl, lets go find out!" Ashley responded, seemingly understanding the pokémon's question. That had been happening more often lately. Running through a particularly thick row of bushes, they found themselves on a small shore, on the edge of a large river. The giant, blue sea serpent reaching high out of the water and roaring to the heavens, immediately caught their eye. The gyarados then seemed to focus on something laying on the shore. Ashley followed its gaze and saw a girl around her age, laying there motionless, petrified by fear. "Eevee, we have to help." Eevee practically gaped at her trainer, what was she expected to do exactly? Picking up on her reservation, the teen attempted to reassure her. "Trust me Eevee, I promise you'll be safe." Eevee just stared before nodding slowly.


Misty was pissed at her sisters, how dare they call her runt and tease her relentlessly. Weren't they the ones to promise their mother that they would always look out for her? So much for that last request. It's not her fault she turned out different. So she wasn't interested in flaunting her assets to crowds of people and preferred to battle. A Gym leader preferring battle, to over dramatic pokémon swimming shows, isn't that how it should be?

Misty was pulled from her thoughts by a gentle tugging on her line, first catch of the day. With an almighty pull, she wrenched the pokémon from its natural habitat. Not at all pleased by this revelation, the still airborne magikarp started to glow brightly. Now Misty was fanatic about almost all water pokémon but if there was one that truly terrified her, it was gyarados. As the light that was once magikarp receded, it revealed the infamous atrocious pokémon. It roared to the sky and then turned its gaze to its provoker.

Misty now frozen in place could do nothing as the pokémon surged towards her with an open maw. Staring at her approaching doom she failed to hear the shout of another person. It was only when a small brown fox-like pokémon, slammed whole bodily into the side of the gyarados' head, knocking its bite attack off course, did she come to her senses.

Looking around, she spotted another girl running towards her shouting. "Don't just sit there Braces, get up! Eevee use Quick Attack to dodge, do NOT get hit!" Eevee yipped in agreement to that order, she wasn't keen on the idea of getting hit by a pokémon of that size, or worse… eaten.


Ashley ran towards the still motionless girl and gave her pokémon the order to dodge everything. Reaching the redhead, she pulled her up and dragged her to the bushes at the edge of the shore, all the while keeping an eye on Eevee. She was tiring, she was young and couldn't keep up the repeated quick attacks. Leaving her pack with the petrified girl, she ran in the direction of the battle. "Eevee, dodge the next attack and then run to the bushes!" And she did just that, moving to the side of another bite attack albeit barely, she sprinted to the protection of the bushes, passing her trainer on the way…Wait, what? Why was her trainer still running towards the sea serpent? She stopped and turned to see what exactly her trainer was planning.

The gyarados pulled its head from the sand once again and turned its gaze on the new arrival. Ashley stood there staring the Atrocious pokémon in the eye. "Stop Gyarados, I know you're angry but you need to calm down, we aren't going to hurt you!" Either it didn't comprehend her words or didn't believe them, whatever the case may be, it attempted another bite attack. The raven-haired teen always had beyond outstanding reaction time and so was able to jump back from the attack.

Eevee was left to watch as her trainer faced down the ferocious gyarados. The teen would plead for it to stop and when it didn't, she would dodge any attack launched. At one point, she witnessed her trainer dodge what she believed to be a Dragon Rage attack. Gyarados launched attacks, one after another, until suddenly it stopped.

Ashley had been avoiding imminent death for the last 5 minutes and she was tiring, fortunately for her that last Dragon Rage attack seemed to wear the gyarados out. It suddenly stopped, looked the young girl in the eye for a few seconds, then fell forward, hitting the ground with an almighty crash. Ashley had to cover her eyes from the dust blown up from its fall. When it cleared, the gyarados was revealed to be unconscious. She reached into her Pocket and pulled out a small spherical device that enlarged in her grasp. The Ball was deep blue at the bottom and white at the top, a light blue wave like pattern separated the two colours. It was a Dive Ball.

"You have a lot of heart, I can respect that. I'll ask you properly when you wake up but for now, I'd like you to join me," the small girl said before tapping the Dive Ball to the centre of its aqua blue crest. It was with very little resistance that the pokéball dinged a successful capture.

Ashley shrunk the now occupied Dive Ball to one of the six slots that sit at the bottom of her back, running horizontally, built right into her clothing. She then headed off to see how Eevee and the girl, who she still only knew as 'Braces', were doing.

Reaching the bushes, she noticed Eevee was looking, with some concern, at the unmoving girl. On closer inspection, it became apparent, she was unconscious. She did the normal first aid checks and came to the conclusion, that at least physically, she was fine. Taking her sleeping bag from her pack, Ashley laid it down and placed the redhead onto it, doing her best to make sure she was comfortable. Looking closely at her face, she realised that she was actually in the company of a Cerulean City Gym leader. She was the youngest of the so called Sensational Sisters, Misty Waterflower. But if this really was Misty then she should have had pokémon to battle with and why, oh why would she be terrified of gyarados? Choosing to think about that later she sat down next to her new charge to rest, dodging so many attacks was tiring.


Misty was coming to and realised she was now resting on something soft. Opening her eyes to assess the situation, she found herself laying someone's sleeping bag. She noticed that whoever had placed her upon it, had taken great care to ensure she was comfortable and had left her in the recovery position. She wondered for a second, what it was she had recovered from exactly. She shot up suddenly to a sitting position and looked around. Her eyes then met those of another person and she found herself lost in their beauty. A deep purple, the likes of which she had never seen before. It was another few seconds before she realised that the person she had been staring at, had in fact been trying to speak to her.

"Glad to see you're awake. You were beginning to scare me there," Ashley said when Misty made eye contact. Noticing the blank stare on her charge's face, she decided to check if she remembered what had happened. Memory loss wasn't common, considering the lack of head injury but she had studied medicine enough to know, it wasn't impossible. "Do you remember what happened?"

Misty having actually listened to her that time, took on a thinking posture and after a few moments she nodded slowly. "I think so… I was fishing and I caught a magikarp, it then evolved into a gyarados and I blacked out… No wait! There was an eevee and it saved my life, please tell me it's okay?!" she shouted pleadingly.

"Yeah, she's just fine, don't worry. She's resting in her pokéball at the moment. I'm her trainer, Ashley Ketchum, glad to meet you," Ashley said as she offered her hand for a shake.

"Oh thank Arceus, my name is Misty Wa-Walker." She returned the handshake and made to stand. The slip didn't go unnoticed by Ashley but she chose to file it away for later. "Thank you for looking after me, have you seen my bike anywhere, I left it just over there?" Misty asked, pointing over to open space on the beach. Ashley flinched at the question. Seeing this, the redhead raised an eyebrow and asked the $1m question. "What happened to my Bike?!" More like shouted it really.

"Well it kind of…" Ashley trailed off at the end.

"I didn't quite catch that, it what exactly?" Misty's voice seemed strained.

"It… blew up," the raven-haired teen admitted guiltily. Seeing Misty was about to blow up herself, see sought to counteract it. "Wait! It wasn't me, it was Gyarados." Seeing this have the desired effect she continued. "But it's okay now because I caught her," Ashley said, grinning away. Whatever anger was lost, quickly made a come-back with that little revelation.

"You caught it?! You let it blow up my Bike and then you caught it?! I don't believe this, you expect me to just say it's okay because you came out of this situation with a new pokémon?!" Misty was pacing back and forth. "I'll tell you what, your pokémon blew up my bike, meaning you can buy me a new one! Understand?!"

'Seriously did she just forget I saved her life?' Ashley thought. 'Maybe I should remind her of that. And she has the cheek to lie about who she is.' Then she looked at the angry fire burning in Misty's eyes. 'On second thought, I think I'll just buy her a new Bike.' And just like that she was nodding her understanding.

"Good. I'm glad you understand, now how about we head to Viridian city? That's where you were going right?" Ashley couldn't believe the complete change in demeanour but she was grateful for it nonetheless.

"Sounds good, I'll just check on Eevee. Come on out girl!" Ashley called out the small evolution pokémon, as soon as she appeared she hopped up her trainers extended arm and onto her shoulder. She nuzzled her cheek against that of her owner. "Hey sweetie, you feeling better?" Eevee yipped in confirmation. "Good, I would like you to meet someone. Misty meet Eevee, Eevee meet Misty," Ashley said as she gestured between the two.

"Nice to meet you Eevee, thank you for your help earlier, you saved my life," Misty said genuinely grateful to the little fox-like pokémon. Eevee yipped in a 'you're welcome' fashion and then turned back to her trainer.

"Right let's go… right after this." The raven-haired teen then strolled to the edge of the river, pulled the Dive Ball off her back and released Gyarados from its confines. As it was released it roared to the sky and both Misty and Eevee seemed to pale at the implications.

"Well I'm glad to see you're all better too!" Ashley shouted up to the head of the beast, a good 10'-15' above her. The gyarados then took in its surroundings and focused on the small girl, standing surprisingly calm before her. "I'm your new trainer." It growled at that comment. "I know you didn't ask for this but I couldn't just leave you passed out at the side of a river, any trainer could have come along and captured you. I only did so, so I could ask you now, would you like to come with me?" The atrocious pokémon was confused by that, did she really do it for her sake. Examining the girl for any sign of deceit, she found none. So, it was her choice, did she want a trainer? She never wanted one as a magikarp but now… Now she had a craving for battle, she wanted to battle strong opponents and reach the pinnacle of her species.

"I will understand if you don't want to but will you at least hear me out?" asked Ashley. Receiving a tentative nod, she continued. "My name is Ashley Ketchum, I have always strived to be the best at everything I do. I'm aiming for the position of pokémon master but to do so, I will need the best pokémon by my side. I know that along with your new evolution, you have acquired some new instincts, they are telling you to battle and become the strongest. I can help you do that, I am very knowledgeable on your species and using that knowledge, I will take you to the pinnacle of strength! So, what do you say? Want to join my team?"

Gyarados was stunned, the trainer knew of her changes, before even she could fully understand them. She knew she now craved strength, maybe this was the best thing for everyone. No, she was now sure it was. With her mind made up, she lowered her head towards the trainer. Ashley reached out her hand and let the giant serpent like pokémon place her crest against it. She then proceeded to gently rub the crest, Gyarados was basically cooing at the contact. If Misty and Eevee were scared before, now they couldn't help but be impressed.

"Atta girl, you will always be the first pokémon I ever caught," Ashley said to her new team member. Misty looked startled by that comment.

'Did she just say that was the first pokémon, she ever caught. That can't be right, no new trainer can control a gyarados with such ease!' she thought. She looked at the eevee still perched on the trainer's shoulder. 'Is she her starter? She must know a breeder or something.' She surmised internally.

"I'm going to return you to your pokéball now Gyarados, but I'll let you out as often as possible." The atrocious pokémon just nodded as she disappeared into the ball, via a beam of red energy. Turning to her temporary travel companion, the young teen asked. "Shall we?". The redhead nodded and waited for Ashley to grab her pack. The dungaree wearing girl then lead them back out to route 1.


Misty had been trailing behind her new companion for a while now and they were almost to Viridian City. Ashley snuck glances back at her now and then, she wasn't sure why she was back there, until she followed her gaze to her own pert bum. 'So the research finally begins,' she thinks to herself.

"Gluteus Maximus, Gluteus Medias and Gluteus Minimus," Ashley said out of the blue, pulling Misty from her thoughts.

"I'm sorry, what?" she asked.

"The muscles you seem to be studying intensely," she replied, with a sly smirk on her face. Misty blushed brightly at being caught.

"S-Sorry, it's not what it looks like!" she said apologetically.

"Oh really, well it looked very much like you were studying the skeletal muscles found in the human body, starting with the Gluteus group. It makes me wonder, if that wasn't what you were doing… then what were you doing?" The devious smile still firmly in place. Misty turned an all new shade of red and attempted a retort but it just ended up a stuttering mess. She was then thrown through a loop when noticed the very suggestive smile on Ashley's face.

'Wait, is she flirting with me?! No way, she can't be. She's so hot and I'm… well… not. There's no way she would be interested in me.' She lost herself in her self-deprecating thoughts.

"Aww Misty, you don't give yourself enough credit," Ashley replied as if reading her mind.

"H-how did you-" she started before being cut off.

"I'm perceptive," the lead teen said, as if it answered all her questions. Unfortunately, before Misty had a chance to ask anything else they were startled by someone shouting at them.

"Halt! Who are you? And why is that pokémon out of its ball?" Turning to the voice, the two teens realised they had been stopped by Officer Jenny, at the entrance to Viridian City. Jenny was a fairly tall woman at around 5'9" and had blue hair tied in a spikey ponytail. She wore the ever-practical female officer uniform, consisting of a mid-thigh length, dark blue skirt, a two-tone dark and light blue blouse and the standard blue circular police cap, with a black peak.

Ashley reached for her pokédex, good job she had programmed these to act as a form of identification. Misty reached for her ID, she seemed somewhat protective of it as she kept it covered. "Good evening Officer Jenny, this should answer your first question…" Ashley said as she handed over her pokédex. Finding the ID button on the device, Officer Jenny pushed it and listened for its response.

"I'm Dexter, a pokédex programmed by Professor Oak for Professor Ashley Ketchum," chimed the pokédex. Misty raised her eyebrows at the professor comment and Jenny went stiff all of a sudden.

"As for my eevee, she just prefers being out," Ashley finished.

"Oh my arceus! You're Professor Ketchum? I heard you were very young but… I thought they just meant by professor standards. Me and my family are such big fans. We read all your papers and we exchange notes on them and- Oh my arceus, they are going to be so jealous when they hear about this!" The three travellers sweat-dropped at the reaction.

"Here's my ID officer," Misty offered, mostly to stop the usually very professional Officer Jenny, fangirling over her new companion.

"Oh there's no need for that, any friend of the professor here, must be a great person. Please go right ahead, I'm sorry I interrupted your journey," the officer said waving them through.

"No problem officer, keep up the good work," Ashely said as she walked away, Misty this time keeping stride beside her.

When they were out of earshot the redhead turned to the professor. "'Keep up the good work'? And why didn't you tell me you were a professor?" Ashley kept looking forward.

"Just something I've always wanted to say. Also, you never asked," she said coolly. Misty just shrugged the comments off and the two remained in a comfortable silence for the rest of the way.


The sun had all but set when the duo and Eevee arrived at the Viridian City pokémon centre. They headed towards the main desk, where Nurse joy was sitting. Joy was a woman of average height, with pink hair tied into two looped ponytails. She wore a pink dress covered by a white apron and a small nurses hat, the hat had a pink cross on the front, indicating her status.

"Well if it isn't little Ashley!" the nurse greeted, as the travellers approached.

"Hi Joy, how are things?" Ashley asked.

"Good thank you, who's your friend?" the nurse asked back.

"Oh right, introductions. Misty this is Nurse Joy, Nurse Joy this is Misty, we just met today but I have a feeling we'll be great friends," the teen said throwing Misty a suggestive smile. Fortunately, Nurse Joy didn't seem to notice.

" Well it's nice to meet you Misty, I hope you take good care of little Ashley here, she's sometimes too… curious for her own good." Okay so she definitely noticed the earlier look. Misty just blushed at the implication before replying as best she could.

"Of course Nurse Joy, I'll make sure she stays out of trouble." Nurse Joy simply laughed out loud at the statement, earning a confused look from Misty and a pout from her companion.

"Sorry Misty, I shouldn't have laughed, but I don't think you'll be able to keep a promise like that." Ashley continue to pout before realising she still wanted to check in and hand over Gyarados and Eevee.

"Nurse Joy, could you take a look at Eevee and Gyarados for me? I believe they're in good shape, just a tired and hungry. Gyarados evolved earlier today, so if it's okay, I'd like her measurements."

"Of course Professor, anything for you," Nurse Joy said playfully. Earning another pout from Ashley.

'Must be an inside joke,' Misty thought to herself. Revealing three of her own pokéballs, the redhead handed them over to Joy and asked her to check them over. She thanked the nurse and turned to see Ashley walking towards a familiar locked door. It had some kind of security pad to the right of it, upon which Ashley placed her pokédex. A faint beep was heard and the door allowed the raven-haired teen entrance.

"Hey, where are you going?" Misty called as she followed behind her new friend. After entering the room, the door slid closed behind her. Looking around the room which was clearly a bedroom, she couldn't help but notice how luxurious it was, in comparison to the usual pokémon centre rooms.

"It's the professor suite, you can find them in almost all pokémon centres, across the globe," Ashley explained offhandedly.

Misty was shocked by this revelation, sure she had seen the locked doors before but she had always assumed it was staff only areas. "It's amazing, it's like a hotel suite in here! I bet it's really expensive."

"Not at all," the smaller teen started "it's paid for by the league, unless the visiting professor is using it for recreational activities. If I was say, using it as a hotel room and vacationing here, I would have to make a contribution but as my pokémon journey is considered a research trip, I don't have to." Misty nodded her understanding.

Ashley placed her bag on the bed and then carefully removed the incubator. She then went about her daily visual inspections before addressing the control panel for the more intimate details. Watching her friend go about these checks, Misty decided to voice another question.

"I didn't realise you had an egg with you, what is it?" she asked.

"It's a vulpix egg, my mother has a ninetails and she entrusted me with her egg, before I left on my journey," Ashley replied.

"And what are you doing with it now?"

"I'm checking for any irregularities in the surface of the egg, of which there are none. This means that the pokémon inside is likely forming correctly. I am also checking the temperature and humidity setting on the incubator. pokémon of different types, need different conditions. Although pokémon eggs will generally survive outside of these conditions, within reason, to successfully hatch a pokémon in prime health, you would usually want to keep a strict eye on the temperature and the humidity inside the incubator," Ashley explained.

"Wow! That's really interesting, so what conditions does a vulpix egg require?"

"Being a fire type pokémon, a vulpix is generally used to higher temperatures and areas of lower humidity. The same principles apply here. A normal type egg should be kept at 37.5°C and with an ambient humidity of around 40-50%" Misty was just attempting to stay with her and hopefully she will understand it all, when she's done. "This vulpix egg however, will be kept at a temperature of 40°C and a humidity of 30-40% for the duration of its incubation. If all goes well, it should hatch in 2 weeks' time."

"Well you certainly know your stuff, I can't honestly say I understood it all but I get most of it. How did you learn all that?" the ever-curious Misty went on to ask.

"I had access to the papers written by the other professors from a young age and I spent some of my downtime right here, helping Joy out with her patients." Ashley finished her checks and placed the incubator in a secure locker, before moving to the attached bathroom with her towel. "I think I'll get washed up, grab some food and head to bed. What about you?" she asked the redhead.

"I'll probably do the same, I'll ask Nurse Joy for a room after dinner," she replied.

"No need for that, you can stay here with me, you wouldn't want me running out on you before I paid for your bike now, would you? You can shower when I'm done." Ashley winked at her playfully before heading into the bathroom to shower.

'There's that smile again, and she didn't even lock the door,' Misty thought. 'Not to mention she doesn't seem to care that there is only one bed, albeit a double.'


The two girls were now, heading out into the cafeteria, Misty still red-faced due to Ashely stepping out the bathroom, in very short towel. They each helped themselves to the food that was on offer and sat at a nearby table.

They were half way through their meal when Nurse Joy brought their pokémon to them and joined them at the table. She could see the front desk from her seat so she wouldn't miss someone coming in.

They discussed a few things like Gyarados' above average size and the correct way to care for the pokémon. Something which they all agreed on, Misty's knowledge on the subject was surprisingly thorough but it should have been expected from the water pokémon specialist, Ashley knew her to be.

The shattering of glass could be heard from the main foyer and a thick cloud of smoke bellowed through the now 'open' skylight.

"We have company and not the good kind," Ashley stated, seeing the smoke for what it truly was, a smokescreen attack. "Joy, make your way to the pokémon transfer room and get them sent to Pewter City. Misty you're with me." Ashley seemed gravely serious and neither Nurse Joy or Misty wanted to argue with her. Eevee, who had been called out during the earlier conversation, was now back on her trainer's shoulder, awaiting orders. "Eevee, I can hear some sort of weird conversation coming from reception, do you think you can locate them in that smoke?" Eevee angled her ears forward listening intently to what she thought were three people and two pokémon, or was it two people and three pokémon, one of the voices was very confusing. Either way she had located them and she turned to her trainer to confirm as much with a nod.

"Misty, do you have anything that can clear that smokescreen?" Ashley asked.

"No, sorry," she replied, shaking her head.

"Damn, okay lets improvise. Eevee, duck in and out of the smoke using quick attack, I want everyone in that smoke in one place okay?" Eevee nodded and set off into the smoke. 5 thuds were heard, a grunt of pain following each one. A shout of 'What the hell was that!?' came from inside the smoke, before Eevee returned to Ashley. The young teen then threw out Gyarados' ball, the atrocious pokémon seemed confused by her surroundings, but decided to simply wait for orders.

"Misty does your starmie know thundershock?" She nodded, wondering how Ashley knew she had a starmie. "Good, please call it out and await my signal. Gyarados, whip your tail towards the smoke to create an air current, when you see the group inside, use Leer to freeze them in place." Gyarados, doing as she was told, whipped her tail passed the smoke, the powerful current of air created, pushed the fog away, revealing the intruders.

Ashley saw the white uniforms with the giant red 'R' on them and found herself seething with rage. No one in Kanto, was unaware of Team Rocket, they stole and exploited pokémon for profit. A horrific crime by anyone's standards but to Ashley, it was unforgivable. Team Rocket's attention was brought to the towering sea serpent like pokémon leering at them and they visibly shrunk back in fear. One of their pokémon, a koffing, was so intimidated by the creature, it released a foul smelling but most importantly, highly explosive gas from its body. An almost sinister smirk appeared on Ashley's face.

"Misty, now!" she shouted.

"Starmie, use thundershock!" the redhead ordered. Starmie carried out the order and sent the electricity towards the petrified group. It enveloped them whole and within seconds the noxious gas ignited. Ashley pulled Misty to the floor with her as she gave the order for their pokémon to retreat. The explosion that occurred seemed to rock the very earth. When the dust cleared, the 5 Team Rocket members were all unconscious and their whole bodies scorched.

A motorbike suddenly flew through the front doors and made a near miraculous stop at the reception desk, it was Officer Jenny.

"What's going on here, I received an emergency signal from this location?" Jenny called to whoever was listening.

"That was me officer, I sent the signal from my pokédex," Ashley replied. "The pokémon centre was under attack from the Team Rocket members over there, fortunately we got the jump on them and managed to apprehend them," she explained, while returning Gyarados to her ball.

Seeing who exactly had replied, Officer Jenny's attitude did a complete 180° turn. She was face to face with Ashley within moments and had her hands clasped in front of her chest. "Wow Professor, I can't believe you took on Team Rocket and won, that's so awesome!" she screamed.

"Thanks Jenny but I couldn't have done it without Misty here and I'm sure Nurse Joy has safely transferred all the pokémon by now." Misty blushed at the complement. Admittedly she had used her pokémon to finish them off but she couldn't help but feel that the girl she had come to call friend, could have handled it without her.

"Thank you for your help miss," Jenny said to Misty, "I'll take it from here."

"Jenny, if you don't mind me asking, what exactly will you do with them now?" Ashley asked.

"Not at all Professor. The pokémon will likely remain here until they have recovered, then they will be rehabilitated and either released into the wild or given to experienced trainers. As for the Team Rocket members themselves, they'll be taken to a high security ward at the hospital and treated for their wounds. We will then try and find out anything we can from them, about other Team Rocket operations. They will undoubtedly serve a jail sentence, the length of which depends on exactly how helpful they are and at what point we deem them fit to re-join society."

Ashley thanked officer Jenny for the information and left the clean-up in her capable hands. The two teens made their way to their room and when they were safely inside, Misty thought to bring up a few things that didn't quite add up, unfortunately for her however, Ashley beat her to it.

"Well I'm beat, I'm going straight to bed." She then slipped out of her clothes until she was down to her bra and panties and crawled into bed. Misty, seeing that she wouldn't be getting her answers tonight, resolved to save her questions until morning and with that, she got undressed and joined her new friend.